Bitfinex Introduces New Fees, Bitmex Rejects Claims It Trades Against Its Customers

In recent cryptocurrency exchange news, Bitfinex has introduced new withdrawal fees, the CEO of Bitmex has refuted accusations that the exchange’s in-house trading desk trades against its customers, and Malta-based Bistraq Exchange has commenced operations.

Bitfinex to Charge 3% on Frequent Withdrawals

Bitfinex has introduced new fees on external wire requests that appear to be designed to reduce the frequency and size of fiat withdrawals. As of this week, the exchange will start charging 3 percent when its customers make more than two fiat withdrawals within a 30-day period. It will also charge a 3 percent fee when customers request “more than $1 million in aggregate in fiat withdrawals in any 30-day period.”

Bitfinex claimed that “regular withdrawals” will not be affected by the change, estimating that it will not impact “99 percent” of its customers. However, the exchange “may exempt customers from this charge in its sole discretion.”

The company also claimed that it “serves as the primary fiat gateway in the crypto ecosystem.” It added that it has processed more than 700 withdrawals, worth more than $1 billion in total, over the last month alone. Despite the purportedly high number of withdrawals it said it has been handling, a quick glimpse at the exchange’s subreddit suggests that many of its customers are still waiting for their transactions to be processed.

Bitmex CEO Pushes Back Against Accusations

In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance U.K., Arthur Hayes — the chief executive officer and co-founder of Bitmex — has sought to deny accusations that the company’s trading desk has traded against its customers. Referring to a Medium article that circulated throughout the cryptosphere last month, Hayes stated that Bitmex does not trade against its customers and does not provide “special access to anyone.”

He said that while Bitmex has a market-making desk, it exists solely to provide liquidity to the exchange’s order books. He added that the market-making desk is also “a customer,” claiming that it “is treated like any other account.”

Malta-Based Bistraq Exchange Starts Operations

Bistraq has commenced operations, becoming the latest exchange to operate under Malta’s Virtual Financial Asset (VFA) regulations. Angelo Jansen, the chief executive officer of Bistraq, said the company believes in “fair” cryptocurrency regulations. “That is the reason we obtained the VFA Licenses,” he added.

Currently, Bistraq supports BCH, ETH, LTC and BTC pairings, with plans to introduce more crypto-assets in the future. It also plans to eventually facilitate the trading of tokenized assets, with Jansen describing security tokens as “the next mega-trend in cryptocurrency.”

What do you think about Bitfinex’s hefty fees on large and frequent fiat withdrawals? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock

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Samuel Haig is a journalist and entrepreneur who has been completely obsessed with bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012. Samuel lives in Tasmania, Australia, where he attended the University of Tasmania and majored in Political Science, and Journalism, Media & Communications. Samuel has written about the dialectics of decentralization, and is also a musician and kangaroo riding enthusiast.

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